Urban Exploration: The Urbex Hobby

 

Never has a hobby been so infamous as this one, filled with controversy and some dangerous if you are not careful about this hobby.

And that is the "keyword" in here, "be careful" have "caution" is you respect this, then Urbex has a hobby is the thing for you, is a cheap hobby (some bus charges may be applied). Thrilling and Educational at the same time.

Urbex is about exploring your city's surroundings, looking out for those unique infrastructures. At this point, is where you must draw a line between legality and illegality, both can be an exhilarating adventure, one more than the other, so be careful, remember you are breaking the law, trespassing into private property.

This is the Hobby for people who love to see whats behind a close a door on an abandoned buildings, not a hobby for the faint of heart, abandoned buildings and exploration have a close relationship with horror movies.

Urban Exploration as a hobby has been around for a while now, I think is deep within our human nature wanting to search abandoned places that are off-limits, (breaking and entering). But in essence, this hobby is about exploring the city around you to submerge in its history.

Hobbyists of Urbex have a mantra that they encourage everyone to follow "Take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but footprints". Don't destroy the property, don't take souvenirs, you are there to explore, to investigate, to fulfill your need to feel like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot.

Take as many pictures as you can, study them, research the building you're at, enrich yourself with its history, this hobby gathers people from all facts of life, Photographers, Historians, Architects, Archeologists and Ghostbusters... sorry... Ghost Hunters.

Every abandoned building is coveted by the Urbex Hobbyists, but the cornerstone buildings for this hobby, The Pièce De Résistance, the ones that really make your skin crawl are:

• Abandoned Amusement Parks.

• Theaters and Cinemas.

• Railway Stations.

• Factories.

• Power Stations.

• Missile Silos.

• Nuclear Bunkers.

• Insane asylums, Hospitals, and Sanatoriums.

• Schools.

• Warehouses.

These places have everything an adrenaline junkie who loves Urban Exploration is looking for. But there is a Holy Grail, a Sword in the Stone for Urban Exploration Enthusiasts, the Underground. The subterranean facilities are the most coveted among them.

Experienced Urban Explorer has found secret access to some underground tunnels, connecting to a complex network of passageways that lies beneath most of our cities. Paris and Edinburgh have Underground Cities and Catacombs open to the public, but like them, many others can be found around the world.

As I mentioned before, this can be a very dangerous Hobby is one is not careful. It's not just about whether is legal or illegal, but some of this places are abandoned factories or hospitals and they leave behind many hidden dangers we need to stay away from, Asbestos, hazardous waste, infected needles are just some of these dangers.

As long as you take these warnings into consideration, you can make Urbex the Hobby of your dreams. 


 

Related hobbies: Parkour, Graffiti 

 

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